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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24550537">When the Egg in the Sky Hatched</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlineidofme/pseuds/theonlineidofme'>theonlineidofme</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Destiny's Fractured Pixels [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Disasters, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Implied/Referenced Terrorism, Minor Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:21:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24550537</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlineidofme/pseuds/theonlineidofme</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Taichi and Hikari were not the only witnesses to the Digimon battle in Odaiba. The digital world will leave its mark on its Chosen, in more ways than one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Destiny's Fractured Pixels [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1343629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Brothers: Falling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Finally I have the second work in the series completed!! Ugh, I'll need to start really writing the next ones so...we'll see how long that takes, on top of me then editing it.</p><p>A post-completion note. It's been awhile but upon really thinking on it, the story's probably more teen than mature so I lowered the rating. However, if anyone thinks I should bump the rating back up I will be happy to do so.</p><p>Edit: I do not own to the rights to digimon, I'm just having fun in delightful chaos in the au I am slowly spinning to life</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Stand back.”</p><p>Yamato pulled at his brother’s shirt.</p><p>Takeru whined. “But then I won’t see -”</p><p>The balcony shook. Yamato dropped the binoculars onto Takeru’s head. Takeru cried out. Yamato pulled the binoculars off.</p><p>“Takeru! Sorry - ”</p><p>Fire smashed into the apartment below theirs. Yamato saw only light. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t, it was too scary, it was too <em>bright</em>.</p><p>Yamato heard windows shatter. Takeru yelled. Their apartment’s balcony leaned forward. Yamato blinked and the light began to fade. He wrapped his arms around Takeru. Yamato tasted hair when Takeru clung to him. The binoculars swung around and tugged at Yamato’s neck and smacked his back. Yamato blinked again and saw the apartments across from theirs. The floor beneath them rumbled.</p><p>And then the balcony fell.</p><p>Yamato dug his fingers into Takeru’s back. His baby brother’s soft shirt fluttered under Yamato’s hand. Yamato squeezed his eyes shut as the pair plummeted. Falling was far, far scarier than he liked. Takeru screamed into Yamato’s neck. Nails dug into his arms as Takeru clutched him.</p><p>Yamato’s legs hurt. He cried and fell and fell and fell. His head was struck and even though his eyes were closed, he saw color. Blue filled his vision, but as he clutched Takeru tighter that blue turned orange. The light burned his eyes. Yamato opened his mouth and eyes and yelled at the hot light in his head.</p><p>Takeru slipped from his arms, and then Yamato crashed into the ground. Yamato thought this should hurt more. The crash had been very loud. The light encircled him. He sank into the road like a shoe into a puddle. He heard clatter nearby. Yamato’s tongue hurt. He tried to spit out the blood, but it stuck to his lips. There was screaming. His vision blurred.</p><p>Orange filled his vision. His body was warm. He reached out, feeling hard chunks of something. Yamato clenched his teeth. He rolled around, even as those chunks prodded him from all over.</p><p><em>Hold fast to courage,</em> a voice whispered. <em>Do not let go.</em></p><p>Yamato’s back pressed against the road. He had fallen onto the right, hadn’t he? He blinked in the light that wouldn’t go away. A round shape sank down from above. It looked like it egg, like a much smaller one that what Takeru saw before the giant bird came out of it and -</p><p>“Ta - Takeru!” Yamato gasped. He coughed.</p><p>Some drawing blinked on the egg-light. Yamato sucked in a breath.</p><p><em>Courage,</em> the voice said. The egg-light blinked (was the egg <em>talking</em>?) as the voice spoke. <em>Keep your courage.</em></p><p>And then the light was gone.</p><p>Yamato coughed spit and more blood. He blinked and he began to see the streetlights and the shattered road around him. It was dark, but there were still lights around him. Nothing like that orange light. Yamato winced as he sat up. He wiped his hands on his pants, and felt the crumbles of hard road stuff fall off. He coughed, and winced, and looked around the street.</p><p>The street in front of their apartment building was torn up. The monsters had really stamped up the ground. Yamato was in a hole, but he wasn’t sure if it had been a monster or that weird light…</p><p>He struggled to stand. His legs hurt, and tears dripped down his cheeks. Yamato stumbled forward. Then he stopped.</p><p>“Takeru!” he shouted. He stiffened up to hold himself up.</p><p>Yamato sucked in a breath. His body shook like he had the flu (but it hurt a lot worse, Yamato was ready to sob).</p><p>“Mom? Dad?” he whispered.</p><p>Yamato looked up at the apartment building looming over him. Stuff fell, and Yamato wasn’t sure what it all was. Shiny, glinting in the remaining light, but also dark and heavy. Thuds echoed around him.</p><p>There was other yelling and screams and cries around him. Yamato listened. His throat hurt - maybe, maybe he would be able to tell which was Takeru. No, he would know. He would know his brother’s voice.</p><p>“Help! Help!” Lots of voices were screaming the same thing. Most of them were muffled.</p><p>Yamato gulped. There were piles of - buildings on the road, were people under there? Was Takeru…?</p><p><em>No, find him</em>, Yamato thought. <em>He was with me until the end, he has to be out here.</em></p><p>“Taichi! Koromon!”</p><p>Yamato pulled himself up and crawled out of the hole. A kid in a pink onesie was screaming and crying. He reached out to comfort them, but instead wiped his eyes again.</p><p><em>Courage,</em> Yamato remembered. <em>The light.</em></p><p>The light had kept the fall from being really bad. Yamato shuddered as emergency lights filled the area and he saw brokenness. But this affirmed to him that Takeru <em>must</em> be safe, because he was safe. Takeru <em>must</em> have had an egg-light. The egg-light wouldn’t abandon Takeru. It had caught him, and so -</p><p>Yamato looked around again. His head ached. He stepped over the shattered binoculars. Parts of the balcony curled around the hole Yamato had been in. Takeru would be the only other child with yellow hair. Sirens whirred. There were more shouts now for names he didn’t know.</p><p>Yamato stumbled over glass, over bits the looked like balconies, other strange things he had never seen on Odaiba streets.</p><p>He yelled out again, on the verge of sobbing, “Takeru!”</p><hr/><p>Takeru had dragged Yamato out of bed to watch the monsters. It was like his favorite shows! Takeru had wondered what shining hero would show up.</p><p>And now Takeru was on the ground.He rubbed his eyes. He felt dirty, and sore. He opened his eyes, and saw their home had been torn up. Windows were shattered and Takeru saw balconies were gone. He heard yelling.</p><p>He gasped as he remembered Yamato grabbing him. He looked around. Dirt fell by his ears. He shivered because it almost tickled.</p><p>“Yamato?” Takeru spun around looking for his brother.</p><p>Takeru gasped as he felt a pain on his neck. He touched it and saw wings. They disappeared. He fell against the crumbled street as other children cried in the distance.</p><p>Takeru’s heart ached. He cried as the mark on his neck pulsed. He struggled to stand. More of the dirt fell, this time into his eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Keep hope, and you will find him.</em>
</p><p>There had been something with wings. Maybe that was the hero! And the reason they weren’t here now was because they were saving Yamato.</p><p>Takeru stumbled into a run. He called out, but no one around him was Yamato. He started to cry. Yamato was gone, if he wasn’t then he would be here and -</p><p>“Takeru!”</p><p>Takeru hiccuped.</p><p>“<em>Takeru!</em>”</p><p>He saw someone struggling over some pile in front of him through his tears.</p><p>Bright blonde hair gleamed under flashing lights. A grimy face grimaced.</p><p>“Yamato!”</p><p>Snot ran down Takeru’s face. His brother seemed to fly, and then Takeru was in Yamato’s arms again. His older brother sobbed into his hair.</p><p>“Takeru…”</p><p>Takeru pressed his face into Yamato’s shirt. Takeru sighed and felt tired. He wanted to go home, to go to bed.</p><p>“Where’s mama and dada?” Takeru whimpered.  Yamato didn’t answer. He shook against Takeru and Takeru felt water hitting the top of his head.</p><p>Sirens wailed and suddenly -</p><p>“Takeru! Yamato!”</p><p>Arms wrapped both boys. Takeru smeared snot on Yamato’s shirt as he turned. Someone loomed over them as both were hugged.</p><p>“Oh thank god!”</p><p>He knew those voices.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Yamato said. He hiccuped.</p><p>“You’re both fine, you’re okay.”</p><p>Yamato was pulled away. Takeru gripped at Yamato, but then he melted into the other person’s -</p><p>“Mama!” Takeru threw himself fully into his mama’s embrace. She scooped him up and he felt his feet lift from the ground.</p><p>“You’re safe. Both of you are safe.”</p><p><em>Love, yes,</em> a new voice said. <em>This one. This is the one to stick.</em></p><p>Takeru wrapped himself  his mother. Her warmth eased his aches, eased the hurt in Yamato’s voice.</p><p>Love, love, love, yes this is how it would be. This is what he would hold. The burning on his neck felt different, and he saw a flash of wings that seemed different this time. Takeru pressed his face again mama, and the wings disappeared.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Crests in the Sky</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I certainly am slow, and if you saw the old version of the note I decided not to do the fourth chapter. Didn't like the idea I had when I started writing it out lol</p><p>But here's the next chapter! Let's see how most of the other chosen children have handled their neighborhood going up in flames :3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The butterfly goalie caught the soccer ball. The mushrooms clapped in the stands, cheering on their team. Sora grit her teeth as the butterfly goalie threw the ball back on the field. Sora’s fans cheered as she took possession of the ball and -</p><p>Sora blinked and turned over in her bed. Her room shook. She heard pencils clattering off of her desk. Her window lit up with bright lights that consumed her neighborhood.</p><p><em>Fireworks…?</em> Sora wondered.</p><p>Sora yawned as she scooted out of bed. It wasn’t time for any festivals, was it? She stepped over to the window and pressed her face against it. After another burst dimmed, Sora saw the torn up street. She gasped as two monsters slammed into each other.</p><p>One was an orange dinosaur with horns, and the other was a giant bird. Sora pressed herself more against the glass as the pair fought and fired bright lights at each other.</p><p>Sora winced as the blue light flashed particularly bright. She stumbled back and rubbed her eyes. Her room shook violently shook.</p><p>Sora tripped. She landed on her bottom. Her room shook again. Toys clattered. Sora saw lights in the sky. They twinkled before streams of light darted out like fireworks. They collided and bounced in the sky. Two fell towards her until one darted away. Sora’s eyes widened.</p><p>Her window broke as a light burst against it. She covered her eyes. Glass rained into her room. It rained on her, and was sharp grit on her hands. She bit her lips so she wouldn’t cry.</p><p>Sora dropped her arms as she heard a hum in her mind. Something blue and almost like an eye swirled. It brushed her fingers, and she grabbed it. It seared her hand. Sora whimpered.</p><p>Her floor crackled as fell to her knees. Snot fell over her lips and her room got blurry. Sora began to hiccup.</p><p>The eye light dug deeper into her hand. There was a loud explosion. And then the neighborhood went dark. Sora screamed and held her burning hand to her chest.</p><p>“Sora! <em>Sora!</em>”</p><p>There was a crash behind Sora. She gave a hiccupy gasp. Someone grabbed Sora. Their hands were warm under her arms. They hefted her up and retreated back. Sora’s head swam.</p><p><em>Sora,</em> a voice whispered. <em>It will be okay.</em></p><p>Sora shivered. Arms wrapped around her. Her hands stung as the burning ebbed away. She heard murmuring in her ear, but could not make out the words. Sora felt her shirt getting wet. The whispering voice had gone quiet.</p><p>“Hello?” Sora asked. Her lips twitched. She sniffed.</p><p>She was pulled tighter into an embrace.</p><p>“Mama’s here Sora, I’m here.”</p><p>Sora recognized her mama’s arms then.</p><p><em>Sora,</em> a voice whispered. Blue glittered behind her eyes as she blinked. <em>Hold fast, and you will find friends who know, and then you will find me.</em></p><p>And Sora cried again. She twisted and pressed her face into her mother’s chest. Her mama’s chin touched her head.</p><p>And then her mama’s embrace slackened. Sora lifted her head as she felt more of the wet. It was stickier then water.</p><p>Lights flickered outside and her mama smiled as one lit up the hall. She touched Sora’s hair and then she collapsed. Sora squealed as she was dragged to the floor. Her mother’s grip was slackening, but her arms still encircled Sora.</p><p>“Mama?” Sora asked. She squirmed and realized that the wet and sticky something was on her mama. “Mama? Mama! <em>Mama!</em>”</p><hr/><p> Mimi set down her dolls. The walls rumbled. She looked to her bedroom door first, but it didn’t open. The rumbling continued and a doll fell off her bed.</p><p>“Say’ri!” Mimi went to grab her fallen doll friend when she saw lights outside.</p><p>Mimi hurried off her bed and to the window. She pressed up against it and gasped as scary monsters fought each other. It was like a show!</p><p>“Where are the heroes?” Mimi murmured. There should be blazing swords and lights to combat such scary monsters. Maybe they were late.</p><p>She started to turn away from her window, and to head for the balcony so she could call on the magical heroine who had to appear, and <em>Mimi</em> could call her and be her one true follower to help the heroine before this great battle, when the sky lit up with new lights.</p><p>Mimi gasped. She lifted a hand higher up the window. The window shook, and she blinked. The monsters were suddenly gone, but the lights…they looked like eggs.</p><p>Then the egg lights burst. One hurtled down towards her. Mimi stumbled back. It went through her window and smacked her on her head. Mimi screamed. For a moment, Mimi was knee-deep in leaves, before she blinked. She was on her back with a sore head.</p><p>Mimi opened her mouth, and wailed. Her throat didn’t even get sore before she her parents burst into the room. Her father screamed. Mimi heard something fall.</p><p>“Mimi!” Strong arms wrapped around Mimi and pulled her from her room. She saw that the wall where her window had been was gone. “Mimi, I’m here!”</p><p>Mimi hiccuped in her father’s arms. He pulled her in tighter. Mimi looked to mommy. Mommy blinked up at her from the floor. She grabbed daddy’s leg and pulled herself into the hug.</p><p>“Daddy,” Mimi sniffed. “Mommy....”</p><p>“We’ll leave, I promise, we’ll find somewhere safe.”</p><p>She believed him. Her heart swelled with a - a strong feeling of...</p><p>
  <em>Purity, in love, in hope, in faith. Do not forget Mimi, do not forget this feeling.</em>
</p><p>Mimi clung to her father, and he lifted his wife as she stirred.</p><p><em>Safe,</em> Mimi though. <em>We’re going to be safe because daddy promised.</em></p><hr/><p>Kōshirō stepped out of the bathroom. He rubbed his damp hands on his shirt. He turned towards the window after yawning and saw periodic bursts of light. They didn’t look like emergency lights, and he didn’t hear sirens. And it wasn’t time for fireworks, and he also didn’t hear fireworks. Was there something wrong with the power?</p><p>Kōshirō walked up to the balcony, opened the door, and once he was outside he leaned over the railing of the balcony. Kōshirō wished he had some binoculars.</p><p>Further up the street was something impossible. Monsters, one was an orange dinosaur and the other some sort of bird. And there was lots of lights and Kōshirō wondered if it was some sort of show with special effects even though everything felt so real.</p><p>“Mom! Dad!” Kōshirō shouted. He turned back towards the apartment.</p><p>They didn’t answer, so they must still be sleeping. He turned his head back towards the fight. Kōshirō kept his eyes on the monsters, but noticed other kids and some adults had come out to watch too. People were talking on the other balconies. He heard someone mention calling emergency services. The building shuddered. Windows further up the street broke, no, more was breaking. One of the monsters knocked the other down and Kōshirō pulled himself up onto the railing.</p><p>Then there was a whistle. It was loud, and high, and there was an explosion of light. Kōshirō shielded his eyes.</p><p>The monster that had fallen jammed its horned skull into the belly of the other. Kōshirō winced as light filled the street. He leaned, fell over the railing.</p><p>He fell into light. A rainbow burst within this expanse as he fell. A purple light reached for him, but missed and zipped another way. A dull color approached and smacked his knee.</p><p>Kōshirō opened his mouth to yell, but then he felt an impact with the hard ground. He gasped and tears fell. The sky darkened, the whistle was gone…</p><p>Kōshirō rubbed his knee. It hurt. This mark wasn’t his, he knew it, but now it was. He wished he knew what it was for. He wished he knew why he felt that it was wrong, that some other belonged to him.</p><p><em>It has to do with that fight,</em> Kōshirō thought. <em>But what was it?</em></p><p>It looked like a fight from TV, fiction, definitely not real. Except it had been. Unless he was dreaming. Kōshirō doubted it. He hurt too much to be dreaming. Though not hurt enough considering the fall he had just taken.</p><p>Kōshirō blinked and moved his head as his vision returned. The street was darker than it had been. The lights from the fight was gone, and a lot of lights in homes and on the street were destroyed.</p><p>Kōshirō rolled onto his knees. He was in a hole in the street. It wasn’t deep, and so he was able to scramble out.</p><p>He heard sirens in the distance. He stood up at the edge of his landing spot. He winced. The street grew quieter the closer the sirens approached. He brushed glass out of his hair. He looked up and saw tears in the apartment complex where windows and balconies collapsed, walls blew in and...</p><p>Kōshirō shook. His mouth tasted bad and he spit...blood. This was all bad, but he needed, he needed to go.</p><p>Kōshirō stumbled through the broken street. He was slow, because he watched his feet. He was careful of what he was stepping on. His feet were bare, and the street was either torn up or covered in glass and whatever else was in the street. He occasionally saw bits of people, but he tried not to think on it too much. He saw a little girl crawling through the rubble, calling out names, there was a family crying...</p><p><em>Oh,</em> Kōshirō thought. <em>I should find mom and dad.</em></p><p>He turned around, but he’d already been walking for so long, and it didn’t look safe. He turned away. It still didn’t look safe, but he’d walked into the worst of the disaster instead of away. So he continued down the road.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>An unfamiliar face loomed in his, and a uniformed adult peered into his eyes.</p><p>“I think so,” Kōshirō said. “I did fall.”</p><p>He pointed upwards. The adult blinked at him. Kōshirō blinked back. The adult picked him up and carried him to an ambulance.</p><p>
  <em>What strength you hold...I shall truly claim you.</em>
</p><p>Kōshirō winced as his knee ached.</p><p>
  <em>Tenacity is who you are now, knowledge is second only to your power to continue on.</em>
</p><p><em>Interesting...</em> Kōshirō thought as the voice disappeared.</p><p>The adult carried Kōshirō away from the worst of it, back towards his home, back towards a flatter street, and he held on. He was tired and achy as he waited to be set down.</p><p><em>I shouldn’t sleep yet,</em> Kōshirō thought. He watched the worst of the rubble grow smaller as the adult walked. He listened to the crying of pain turned into wailing and panic of a different sort.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Brothers: Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>At last the story is completely edited!! What a downer of a chapter though haha</p>
<p>I hope y'all enjoy. Do let me know in the comments what you think. Eventually, I will start writing the third part, but other in-progress works will take precedence because they already have words to them. Keep an eye out on my profile if you have other fandom interests just so y'all can see what I might be posting in the future!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Shuu! Look at that!” Jō threw his arm over the balcony. He gave a nervous laugh.</p>
<p>“I’m on the phone, what are you looking at?” Shuu groaned on the other end, but he was listening. Jō took this as encouragement to continue.</p>
<p>“There’s monsters in the street!”</p>
<p>Jō continued to chatter and watch the fight. Shuu remarked how he could see lights and people were going to call the police. He’d been visiting a friend and had called about an incident with the bus, but Jō had picked it up rather than their parents.</p>
<p>“Hey, Jō, maybe you should go inside,” Shuu said. “I’m gonna hang up now okay?”</p>
<p>Jō heard Shuu hang up the payphone. He frowned and continued to watch the monsters. The fight was horrific. The orange dinosaur was being torn up by the bird one.</p>
<p>“Oh god!” he shouted as he spotted a couple of kids. He gripped the balcony.</p>
<p>The orange monster went down, and then there were lots of lights bursting. He heard high pitched squeals as the lights hits windows and -</p>
<p>The dinosaur’s tail whipped over and -</p>
<p>“<em>Jō!</em>”</p>
<p>Jō’s glasses fell off. He felt weightless before blinking.   Jō realized he was being held. Tightly. He looked up.</p>
<p>“M - mom?” She held him tighter and cried.</p>
<p>“I don’t see him!” Shuu shouted.</p>
<p>Jō looked over to the apartment’s balcony. Shuu held onto what was left of the door.</p>
<p>“Dad!” Shuu shouted.</p>
<p>Jō looked down at his leg. It was bleeding. He pulled at his pant leg. It was cut. And there was a mark.</p>
<p><em>Wrong,</em> Jō thought but he didn’t know why.</p>
<p>Jō remembered holding the phone as he called his brother. He’d heard shouting. He looked down at his hands. The phone was gone. He felt his dad join his mom in hugging him.</p>
<p>“He saved you…”</p>
<p>Jō blinked. He looked out toward the balcony. He’d been there when the light came. He’d heard Shin shouting. But Shin wasn’t here, he was…</p>
<p>Jō cried with his parents. Dust and tears mingled on his face. His leg grew bloodier and stained the floor.</p>
<p>
  <em>You are knowledgeable even to what aches. I promise to stand tall when you need me most. But never lose sight of the truth, even when -</em>
</p>
<p>Jō shook his head. The voice fell silent at his distress.</p>
<p>“Shin!” Jō reached out towards the lost balcony. “Shin, please.”</p>
<p>Jō heard sirens below in the streets before he only heard his own wailing.</p>
<p>Jō didn’t know how long it lasted, but eventually the hugging ended.</p>
<p>“Shuu, you take Jō outside, we’ll follow.”</p>
<p>Jō blinked as his brother lifted Jō to his feet. He stumbled, but he was able to walk. His leg was tender, and he couldn’t put all of his weight on it, but holding onto Shuu he could walk. He heard Shuu sigh beside him.</p>
<p>“Oh thank god,” Shuu said as the pair navigated the wrecked hall. “I thought I was going to have to carry you out.”</p>
<p>Jō said nothing. He followed Shuu to the entrance, which only had shoes thrown about. Shuu helped him clean off his feet and slip on his shoes. Jō was sweating and started to shake. Shuu slipped on his own shoes and they began the slow walk out of their apartment.</p>
<p>Jō’s leg hurt, but he didn’t think it was bad. Shuu wasn’t acting like he had lost a lot of blood, anyway. The stairs were filthy where pieces of the wall had come apart, but most were still intact until they descended a couple of floor.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Shuu said. “That’s going to be a problem.”</p>
<p>Jō nodded. He leaned against Shuu.</p>
<p>“Yeah. They’ll save us and everyone else in the apartment.</p>
<p><em>Except for the dead,</em> Jō thought. <em>Like Shin…what if they don’t find Shin…</em></p>
<p>Jō felt tears rolling out of his eyes. He grit his teeth.</p>
<p>“W - what if,” Jō said. Shuu tightened his grip. “What if they can’t find Shin?”</p>
<p>Shuu pressed his face against Jō’s hair. He mumbled his answer, but Jō couldn’t understand him. Shuu’s glasses fell with a clatter at both boys’ feet. Jō closed his eyes and he shivered.</p>
<p><em>Don’t cry,</em> Jō said. <em>They’ll find him, they’ll find him, they’ll find him…</em></p>
<hr/>
<p>Hikari sneezed as dust covered her face. She couldn’t hear Taichi blowing her whistle anymore. Hikari blinked, but there were floating spots and they were distracting.</p>
<p>“Taichi?” she coughed. “Koromon?” She sneezed when she moved.</p>
<p>She felt something on her chest. It was soothing and quiet. She ignored it. Hikari sat up. Her knees hurt. So did her arms, and legs, and, well, everywhere. She felt like she’d fallen off the bed, but worse.</p>
<p>Hikari was sitting in a small hole in the street. She looked around, but she couldn’t see Koromon <em>or</em> Taichi. It was very dark, so Hikari coughed and tugged at her hood before calling out again.</p>
<p>“Taichi!”</p>
<p>Hikari heard crying. Her eyes went wide. Koromon and Taichi might be hurt! The bird seemed to be gone, but she was hurting so she needed to help Koromon and her brother.</p>
<p>“Koromon! Taichi!” Hikari crawled through the debris as she searched.</p>
<p>Her hands stung, and her feet trembled with every step. Her whistle would call them!. So she reached for it, and froze. Her whistle was gone.</p>
<p>“Taichi! Koromon!” Tears poured down her face as she screamed.</p>
<p>Koromon was gone. It was dark, and there was lots of noise that wasn’t fighting, that wasn’t Taichi looking for her. Hikari’s face scrunched up and she fell onto her bottom.</p>
<p><em>Taichi,</em> she thought. <em>Come back, Taichi!</em></p>
<p>A soft glow hovered on her hands. A voice whispered. It felt like someone was leaning near her ear.</p>
<p><em>Your shadow will return, once you cross into the world of light and darkness and find </em>me<em>.</em></p>
<p>There was a huff of air. Hikari flinched. The glow around her hands blinked away, and she was alone again.</p>
<p>Hikari opened and closed her hands. Tears rolled down her face. Her feet hurt. Her pajamas felt wet and dirty. Hikari opened her mouth to wail.</p>
<p>There was a tap on her shoulder. She turned quickly, and saw a woman standing there -</p>
<p>“Mama?” More tears welled in her eyes. Hikari reached out to the woman.</p>
<p>“No,” the woman said. Hikari saw the woman reaching down. “What’s your name?”</p>
<p>Hikari threw herself into the woman’s arms and cried for mama, and papa, and Taichi and Koromon and Miko and <em>home</em>.</p>
<p>Arms wrapped around Hikari. They were warm and strong, but not as tight as Hikari’s grip. She felt herself being picked up. She hiccuped as the woman walked through the street. Eventually, the woman stopped and sat. Hikari dimly realized there were other people, maybe other kids, but none sounded like Taichi.</p>
<p>The woman shifted Hikari in her lap. Hikari sniffed, but the deep sadness had stopped feeling so deep. She flinched when her feet and hands stung as a stranger with a light prodded her and rubbed…medicine? It was sticky and -</p>
<p><em>Oh,</em> Hikari realized. The stranger with a light was a doctor, though very different than the one who did her check-ups. They were dressed differently, but this person acted like a doctor.  A hand smoothed down Hikari’s hair. She looked up and the woman smiled. Her hair was yellow and brushed against Hikari’s forehead.</p>
<p>“What’s your name?”</p>
<p>“…Hikari.” Hikari let in a big sniff.</p>
<p>“That’s a lovely name. You can call me Auntie Natsuko.” The woman turned then, keeping hold of Hikari. Hikari looked around as she did.</p>
<p>There were other kids, and adults. Some of the kids, as she looked at them, caused a strange tug in her heart and mind like they were -</p>
<p>“This is my husband, Hiroaki, you can call him Uncle Hiroaki, and these are my sons.”</p>
<p>Hikari focused on the family she’d been sitting by as Auntie Natsuko made introductions. A brown-haired man had two boys in his laps, and Hikari saw they were like her and Taichi but with yellow hair. The older one had a fierce look through his tears, and he stared past her towards…something. Hikari wasn’t sure, but it made her feel…safe. Like he was watching out for her. The younger had his face buried in his dad’s chest, and then he lifted his head.</p>
<p>Bleary blue eyes met hers and they both blinked.</p>
<p>“I’m Takeru,” the boy said. He released his hold on his dad’s shirt. Uncle Hiroaki eased Takeru down, and then Takeru stumbled over to her. “…You’re my friend Hikari.”</p>
<p>Takeru wrapped his arms around Hikari’s neck. She felt bandages like hers under his clothes. She heard a loud sniff from above her, but she ignored it. She moved and hugged Takeru back.</p>
<p>
  <em>We’re friends, and…Chosen together.</em>
</p>
<p>She didn’t know what that meant yet, or where the thought came from. Eventually they were pried apart. Hikari clung to Auntie Natsuko as Takeru reattached himself to Uncle Hiroaki. His brother, who stood with the adults, held onto Takeru as they walked.</p>
<p>“We’ll find your mom and dad,” Auntie Natsuko said.</p>
<p>Hikari leaned into her chest. She was sleepy… “And Taichi and Koromon…”</p>
<p>Hikari fell asleep then. She was safe. And they would find Taichi and Koromon. They just would. They had to, because the bird was gone but that meant Taichi and Koromon were safe.</p>
<p>They just had to be.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm going to post each chapter as I finish editing it, so basically the other chapters aren't ready yet. Don't know when they will be haha.</p><p>Enjoy what I have so far though ~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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